Philosophy of Magic

A Philosophy of Magic by Mark J. Gobeo A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida Dec 2008 ii ABSTRACT Author: Mark J. Gobeo Title: A Philosophy of Magic Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Carol S. Gould Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2008 Throughout history magic has been an art that has instilled awe and wonder in its spectators. The magician used to be held in high esteem, as teacher, as scientist, as priest and even as philosopher. This being the case, throughout the history of philosophy, philosophers have deemed magic to be deception, to be a mode of misleading people into believing what is not true. Through the modern philosophical era, philosophers have been seeking a purely scientific method for questioning reality. It seems that, today, even the magician views his or her art as mere entertainment. The purpose of my thesis is to dispel the belief that magic is purely a hobby with no artistic value and that, like other artworks, magic too can cause one to question existence. iii Table of Contents 1. Introduction…..…………………………………………………………………...1 2. On Art …………………………………………..………………………………...3 3. On Magic………………………………………………………….........................9 4. On The Uncovering of Truth in Magic and Philosophy………………………....17 5. The Magician, Magic and Philosophy…………………………….......................28 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….43 7. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..49 iv The central question in the philosophy of art is, what is the value of art? Philosophical reflection on art would be idle unless art were valuable to us, and the significance of any question that arises in philosophical reflection on art derives directly or ultimately from the light that its answer throws upon the value of art. - Malcolm Budd, Values of Art Introduction There has been much debate on the relation between philosophy and art. But no one has yet considered the art of magic. Although there has not been much philosophical discussion on the topic of magic, philosophers tend to view magic as something that never produces a desirable outcome. Magic is considered by many to be an art of deception and thus the practitioner as a purveyor of false beliefs. This may be one reason that magic has been ignored. I will take a Heideggerian approach to show that magic is not only an art, but that it is an art that can evoke emotion and elicit philosophical thinking. Most people, whether laypersons or philosophers of art, view magic as lighthearted and thoughtless. I find this perplexing because of the significant role that magic has played in history, both aesthetically and philosophically. In the following sections, I will look at magic and its ability to stimulate philosophical thinking and to call to mind philosophical reflection as a true art form. Magic is not only a true art but like other art forms, magic, through wonder and awe, can engage one in philosophical thought. 1 Throughout this thesis it may seem as though that I am conflating two different meanings of the word ‘magic.’ I do it for a reason. In one sense of the word, ‘magic’ is an art form where the magician creates illusions in order to evoke emotions and bring about philosophical thought. In another sense of the word, ‘magic’ is considered to be a form of spirituality, i.e. the magician controls nature through spiritual or divine forces. When I use the word ‘magic’ I am referring to the first meaning of the word. Whether I am discussing magicians such as David Copperfield, or Dante, or magicians such as the Three Magi. I do this because many modern magicians believe that all magicians throughout history have used the secrets of illusions to prompt thought. In my thesis, I will discuss the historical notions and uses of art in culture and religion to show that the symbolism of a work of art has always been of great importance. I will also discuss some of the common associations of magic with illusion that have led philosophers to disregard it. I will argue against this negative notion of magic and demonstrate, mainly through Heideggerian thought, that magic, like other artworks, can be awe inspiring and thought provoking. 2 On Art People have always engaged in creating, appreciating, and finding pragmatic uses for art. As Paul Johnson states: “The number of art-works [sic] produced in world history is beyond computation, and sufficient numbers have been preserved, each of them unique . ..”1 While each artwork is unique, many of the works have a common goal. That goal is to call to mind thought and evoke emotion. Most artworks handed down to us throughout history have attempted to evoke thought through symbolism that points to some form of higher idea, be it a divine idea or a human idea, such as the ancient statues of the Greek God’s or the Renaissance and Medieval Christian paintings and icons. This can also be seen in more modern works of art such as the Statue of Liberty. Although some artworks embody ideas that are inconsistent with the ideas that are embodied in other artworks, I am presupposing that a hermeneutic of any specific work is determinate. That is to say, that there is a limited set of interpretations for any given work. While I presuppose this, a defense of my assumption goes beyond the limits of this particular thesis. Aesthetic formalism is “the view that in our interaction with works of art, form should be given primacy.”2 The formal elements of a particular work of art, e.g. color, 1 Paul Johnson, Art, A New History (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003), 1. 2 The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 2nd edition, ed. Robert Audi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 11. 3 compositional structure, etc, are themselves symbolic. While all aspects of a work of art are important for its aesthetic value, the symbolic aspect is of prime importance. Art, through its symbolism, points to something other than itself. This is where the strict aesthetic formalist is misguided. The form of a work of art hold symbolic qualities, e.g. a stone statue of the Assumption of Mary. The formal aspects of the statue hold many symbolic qualities, such as but not limited too, the colors and the compositional structure of the statue. This Even if a work is created purely for aesthetic value, that aesthetic value is still pointing to something beyond itself, even if it is only a deeper appreciation for aesthetic value.3 In Martin Heidegger’s The Origin of the Work of Art, he remarks on this. The artwork is, to be sure, a thing that is made, but it says something other than what the mere thing itself is, allo agoreuei. The work makes public something other than itself; it manifests something other; it is an allegory. In the work of art something other is brought together with the thing that is made. To bring together, in Greek, symballein. The work is a symbol.4 Religions have been known to use this mode of communication through art, be it through paintings, sculptures, literature, and works in other media. For example, most religions use art as a means of expression and as a way to bring their followers to an encounter with the divine through moral symbolism, followed by cognitive symbolism, in order to understand 3 I am addressing this issue taking a Platonic, Neo-Platonic or even a Thomistic approach. I am stating the possibility of a transcendental, a relation between the From, or the Idea and what we see and know. Although the purpose of my thesis is not to show that there is a transcendental reality I do assume on occasions that there is on and that art can be a mode of understanding this transcendental reality. 4 Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings, ed. David Farrell Krell (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1993), 145-146. 4 moral relevance. The two forms of symbolism go hand in hand. Artworks often point one beyond oneself and suggest many metaphysical qualities. From post-doppelgänger days through cave drawings and up to the present day, art has often been held in high esteem because of its metaphysical implication: “And it is precisely because of its non-material, its metaphysical qualities, art became the father of religion.”5 I might add that it is often precisely for these reasons that art has been of such lasting relevance. Many religions hold the metaphysical qualities of art in the highest esteem. They do so because of the metaphysical relation between, and the metaphysical study of, the human person, God, and the world. It seems that the general populace, for the most part, no longer views art for its aesthetic value. It is often merely a form of escapism and pure entertainment. But art has the ability to be much more than merely a mode of entertainment and escapism. In the words of Heidegger, (a)esthetics is of a different opinion; it is as old as logic. For aesthetics, art is the display of the beautiful in the sense of the pleasant, the agreeable. And yet art is the opening up of the Being of beings. We must provide a new content for the word “art” and for what it intends to name, on the basis of a fundamental orientation to Being that has been won back in an originary way.6 Art, for Heidegger, held extreme importance because of its alētheic qualities or its ability to clear an opening for truth to reveal itself. It is for this reason that many religions hold art to 5 Paul Johnson, Art, A New History, 13.

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